


even ice melts

by snowfiregirl21



Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: M/M, Touch-Starved, just a bunch of fucking nerds, listen they deserve thi, nerds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-01
Updated: 2017-10-01
Packaged: 2019-01-07 11:57:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12232359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowfiregirl21/pseuds/snowfiregirl21
Summary: three times eggsy deliberately touched merlin and one time merlin returned the favor





	even ice melts

**Author's Note:**

> \- set between tss and tgc  
> \- i refuse to write accents bc i refuse to butcher them  
> \- also not “““brit-picked””” w/ spelling except for the word arse i guess  
> \- also hey tenses are a bitch i tried im so sorry

Eggsy spots him from down the hall. Tall, lanky, wearing that damn sweater with patches, _honestly the man works at a tailor’s shop why can’t he dress the part,_ Eggsy thinks before he remembers that if Merlin were to wear a suit, Eggsy would combust right then and there.

Instead of voicing that thought, he shakes it off and makes his way down the hallway, shouting, “Merlin! Got a proposition for you!”

Merlin, bless his soul, looks up and then down as though it’d never happened. “Ah, good morning, Mr. Unwin, how may I assist you.”

“That wasn’t a question, sir, you know I’m almost starting to believe y’don’t want me around?”

Merlin grinned. “Oh, now _there_ are those excellent spy tactics I’ve heard so much about.”

“Fuck off, prick,” Eggsy returns, lightly shoving him but keeping his hand on his shoulder.

Merlin’s breath absolutely does not hitch at that, he’ll say later, thank you very much, he just got something caught in his throat. But Eggsy notices and makes a mental note to touch Merlin as often as he can.

 _Now that’s a mission I can accomplish_ , he thinks, grinning like a madman.

“What are you on about now, lad?”

_You._

===

i.

Bors shouts from the next room, “Hey, Ice Queen, when you make the tea can you please make it hot this time?”

Merlin rubs the bridge of his nose and sighs. “The only reason the tea wasn’t hot last time was because you took your sweet time getting off your lazy arse.”

Bors shoots something back, condescendingly, and Eggsy’s about to lose his mind.

Instead, he leaves Harry’s office and enters the break room where Merlin and Bors are. “Listen up, fuckers–” wide eyes from Merlin and a minute shake of the head. “Listen up, sir fuckers.”

Merlin doesn’t sit down in the chair so much as fall onto it.

“I don’t know why you’re going on about calling Merlin here Ice Queen when he’s quite frankly fit as fuck.”

Merlin’s face heats up and he’s pulling the cuffs of his sweater over his hands and covering his face and _fuck, isn’t that just adorable_.

Bors makes a face. “No? It isn’t adorable?”

_Fuck._

“And we call him Ice Queen because he doesn’t let anybody touch him. He used to, before, when–” Bors cuts himself off. “He used to, but even then that was just one person. He’s fuckin’ cold when it comes to affection, Eggsy, don’t have any hopes for a nurturing friend.”

Bors pushes his chair back and tips his head towards Merlin as he walks out, a sign of respect, even after the bullshit he just spouted.

Eggsy sputters after him. “You gonna let him say that shit and get away with it?” he shouts at Merlin.

Merlin stares evenly at Eggsy. “It’s not a big deal, Eggsy. It really isn’t.”

“Not a big deal, my arse,” Eggsy mutters.

Then he decides he’s gonna hug Merlin. Right then and there. The chair Merlin is sitting on isn’t a big one, there’s enough room for maybe half a person to get on there with him. So Eggsy does the only logical thing.

He straddles Merlin.

Now sure, the man makes a choking sound, but that was probably because Eggsy had gained a bit of muscle weight and just put it all on him.

“Eggsy, lad, what are you doing,” he says in a tone of warning.

“I’m giving you a hug, Merlin, you uptight bastard, come here.”

And Eggsy hugs him. He leans in and wraps his arms around Merlin. He burrows his face in the crook of Merlin’s neck and _my god this sweater is soft and his skin is so warm oh my god it’s getting warmer is that because of me ice queen my arse_.

Merlin doesn’t move for a solid thirty seconds, but then he relaxes, he fucking _relaxes_ in Eggsy’s grip, and Eggsy’s never felt more proud, more accomplished, than making Merlin lose some of the tension he keeps in all of his body, and Eggsy knows, he _knows_ he has to let go soon because someone could see them, he doesn’t want Merlin to hate him, so many things but Eggsy’s selfish and holds on for a few seconds more, and when he gets up to leave, when he unwraps his arms from Merlin’s torso, when he lifts his head from Merlin’s neck, when he smooths out his sweater as he climbs off Merlin’s lap, he hears a faint whimper and _fuck_ if that wasn’t hot, but he isn’t going to say anything because he can’t ruin this moment.

There will be more moments in the future he can ruin; he’s certain of that.

===

ii.

They’re in Merlin’s office with Roxy when it happens again. They had just completed a mission, some routine thing, when Merlin tilts his head left and right and twists his torso, and a loud cracking noise echoes through the silent room. Roxy, who had been asleep in her chair, jumps at the noise and pulls her gun.

“Whoah, Foxy Roxy! No danger here! Just Merlin!” Eggsy panics, trying to hold his hands up in a comforting way.

Roxy nods, puts her gun under her chair, and is out like a light again.

Merlin snorts. “Foxy Roxy?”

Eggsy shrugs, a light blush dusting his cheek. “Have you seen her, mate? There’s gonna be one lucky lady someday.”

Merlin grins, and _god_ does Eggsy love it when he smiles. “I’m sure there will be.”  
  
It’s quiet for a few moments until Eggsy breaks it with, “Would you like a massage?”

It’s quiet again but this time it’s stifling because Merlin froze, again, and Eggsy just wants to make him come undone and be putty in his hands and okay maybe that’s a _little_ sexual for this instance but can you really blame him?

Merlin looks up, and his shoulders sag, and Eggsy’s heart hits the ground because _fuck,_ Merlin had been up the night before and then he had to supervise their mission because they were new recruits and Harry– Harry wasn’t there to be in the field with them and Merlin, god, Merlin looks like hell, his face is worn and he has dark circles under his eyes and maybe a massage would help, but if Merlin were to let out any kind of noise, Eggsy would lose his shit, so he decided to hold off and instead offers, “If not a massage, then a nap? You have a couch right there, Merlin, Roxy’s already asleep, and you can do the debrief tomorrow, please go to bed.”

Merlin sighs. “Are you going to stay here or sleep in your own bed?”

“Considering that if I leave, your arse is gonna be off the couch and back behind that desk in a matter of seconds; I’ll be staying here, thanks.”

Eggsy swears he hears a muttered “fuck off” as Merlin hauls himself from his chair and sluggishly makes his way to the couch. When he drops onto it, he doesn’t even lie horizontally, he just curls into a ball and closes his eyes, probably hoping that’ll deter Eggsy from checking on him.

Arsehole.

Eggsy looks around Merlin’s office for a blanket and upon seeing a storage container he opens it and finds a shitton of sweaters. He giggles, a high pitched, hysterical kind of laughter, and he grabs a few. Although he realizes Merlin won’t be waking up for quite a bit, the tosser’s out cold, he lays them on Merlin’s body and then sits on the couch behind him. He inches closer, snuggling up behind Merlin, _for the body warmth,_ he insists to himself. When their bodies are pressed together and Eggsy can feel Merlin become slack in his grip, he grins and kisses the back of Merlin’s neck, a small soft kiss. A tender touch, only a lingering of lips. He rests his head between Merlin’s neck and the back of the couch and before he closes his eyes he checks on Roxy and is met with glittering eyes and a sly smile.

She blows him a kiss and winks. “Go to sleep, I don’t know if your ex-handler would be the same if you weren’t handling him.”

Eggsy flips her off.

===

iii.

Eggsy races into the conference room, panting with his hands on his knees.

“Where’s the fucking fire, Eggs?”

“Shove off, Rox, this is important,” he says, returning to an upright position and taking a few steps before he pauses. “But it can wait for a minute or two.” Falls onto the nearest chair. “Scientific purposes and all that.”

Roxy nods, smirking. “Of course. For science. Queen and country and all that.”

Eggsy rolls his eyes and pours a glass of water and _of course_ Merlin decides to walk into the room with a suit that _actually fucking fits_ , making Eggsy choke and spit water onto his shoes because fuck him to hell if he gets any on his pants.... The upside of this is that Merlin chuckles and shakes his head and fuck, if that smile isn’t worth every embarrassing thing Eggsy could ever do.

Merlin opens his mouth to speak when Eggsy suddenly remembers what he ran into the room to do. He clambers off the chair and races to Merlin, gently covering his mouth and saying “sorry, babe,” before dragging him out of the room by his tie, the sound of Roxy falling out of her chair and the echoes of laughter following them down the hall.

“Eggsy, what in the name of–”

“Merlin, listen to me, okay, it’s fucking vital that you know about this, please let me tell you.”

Merlin’s eyebrows furrow and he bites his lip, _fuck Eggsy focus you fucking hormonal son of a bitch_ , “Well go on then, lad, who’s in trouble? Has something gone south?” _Only the blood to my–_

“Pub! The pub over on Cabot Square is having a special on single malt scotch tonight and I thought–”  
  
Merlin rubs the bridge of his nose. Eggsy notes that he does that quite a bit, gets the sudden urge to kiss it, and squashes that feeling deep, deep down.

“You mean to tell me… that you dragged me out of the conference room. By my tie. With your hand over my mouth. For all of the Kingsman agents currently gathered to see.”

Eggsy laughs nervously. “Well you see, Merlin, um, it’s just you and Rox and I at the present, so I didn’t think anything of it.”

Merlin rubs his nose again. “Eggsy, love, LAD, _ladladlad_ , just because you don’t turn your glasses on right when you walk in doesn’t mean that others follow the same fucked up protocol as you.”

Eggsy warms at the accidental “love” and then stills. “You mean to say…”  
  
“That there are six Kingsman agents currently sat at that table in locations all around the world waiting for me to get back in there and continue a debriefing that began yesterday, that _you are not even a part of_ , yes.”

“Well, fuck me in the arse!” Eggsy shouts, throwing his hands up in the air. Lowering his voice, he adds, “But I’d really like to take you out for some drinks tonight can we do that?”

Merlin looks at him, long and hard, eyes scanning over every possible part of his face, trying to see if he’s, what? Lying? Pulling his leg? He lingers over Eggsy’s mouth though and fuck if Eggsy won’t be keeping that in his mind for the rest of the night. Finally, Merlin sighs and says, “I will drink with you, but I refuse to go to that pub. If you want a drink, you can come to my office when you’re through with your paperwork.”

Eggsy nods, ecstatic at the thought of spending more time with Merlin. “Wait, what paperwork?”

Merlin grins. “This.”

He drops the paperwork into Eggsy’s arms, winks, and tells him to have fun; Eggsy maneuvers the papers to slap Merlin’s arse because _fuck_ , if he’s gonna go down in flames he’s going to do it hard.

He’s delighted with the way Merlin jerks, clearly not expecting it, and the following blush that creeps up his neck is oh so satisfying, even if the bastard never gives him the pleasure of turning around.

===

+1

It’s been hours since Eggsy slapped Merlin’s arse and _fuck_ if he hasn’t been overthinking those few seconds the entire goddamn time. _Did I cross a line? If I show up to Merlin’s office tonight will he laugh at me and slam the door in my face? If I show up to his office tonight will he let me slam_ him _into the door instead?_

Eggsy shakes his head, trying to dislodge all of Those thoughts from his mind. Merlin is a good man who deserves some soft fluffy goodness before Eggsy climbs him like the tree he is.

 _Fucking disgrace_. Eggsy’s alarm goes off and he jumps in his seat, knocking his knees on the bottom of his desk. Swearing, he leaves Harry’s office, running to Merlin’s before slowing down and smoothing down his suit. He’d unbuttoned his jacket for… impure thoughts regarding Merlin reasons and now as he tries to catch his breath so he wouldn’t look like a desperate fool, he couldn’t be more grateful.

He raises his hand to knock and the door gives way before he can even touch it. Merlin stands in the doorway, smiling and extending a glass of scotch to Eggsy.

“You know there are cameras all throughout this building, yes? I saw your… graceful methods of getting here.”

Eggsy blushes. “Whatever,” he mutters. “So what’s the plan for tonight? Are we getting plastered?”

Merlin closes the door, locking it behind him. Eggsy raises his eyebrows and Merlin rolls his eyes. “I’m not letting anyone else see me get drunk, Eggsy, don’t let your mind wander like that.”

Eggsy shrugs, smirking. “I mean, hey, Merlin, I don’t judge. Whatever I can do to help you out, you know?” Downs the scotch. “Can I have another?”

Merlin swallows, hard. Eggsy follows the motion with his eyes coming back up to rest on Merlin’s mouth. Merlin meanders his way back to his desk, as if his office was anything but perfectly organized. His hands shake as he picks up the bottle. “Set your glass down right there,” he motions towards a coaster on his desk, “and your arse down right there,” he motions to the chair right across from him.

Eggsy does as he’s told and thanks the sweet Lord above that there’s a desk between them because he doesn’t even know if Merlin _likes_ being touched because yeah, maybe he let out a few noises, once or twice, but that could mean anything couldn’t it?

Merlin pours two glasses. Clinks. “Cheers.”

“Cheers.”

They drink less and less as the night goes on, because Eggsy knows that if something goes down he wants to be completely sober for it, and Merlin probably still isn’t one hundred percent comfortable drinking with him yet.

Somehow, though, Merlin ends up sprawled on the floor with Eggsy curled into his side. Neither of them are complaining though, it’s cold as shit and they’re very comfortable, fuck you very much.

Eggsy crawls on top of Merlin and whispers in his ear, “Was there anything you had in mind when you told me to do this or were you just being a fucking bastard?”

Eggsy feels Merlin shiver underneath him and the answering warmth spreading across his face, meeting his lips and _fuck_ Eggsy just wants to kiss the everlasting daylights out of him.

Out of everything Eggsy may have been expecting to come out of this night, the one thing he never saw coming was Merlin running his hands up Eggsy’s arms to his shoulders and flipping them over so he’s straddling Eggsy.

Eggsy gasps out a “fuck that’s hot” and Merlin lowers himself to where his body is against Eggsy’s and he can _feel_ Merlin’s laughter vibrating against his chest and he laughs too because honestly he’s been thinking about this ever since Harry took him to Kingsman and he met the fucking sweater wearing arsehole.

Merlin trails kisses down Eggsy’s neck and back up to his jaw, peppers kisses across his cheeks and nose and forehead, and right before he can kiss his lips, Eggsy flips them over and cradling Merlin’s face says, “Not to be a fuckwad, but Roxy bet me fifteen pounds that I wouldn’t kiss you first so can I, uh, please do that? I’ll even put it towards our first date,” he says, raising his eyebrows and grinning and Merlin smiles in return.

“Darling, you can do whatever you want.”

Eggsy’s body stutters for a second, his hands freezing on Merlin’s cheek and Merlin comfortingly runs his thumb over Eggsy’s fingers until Eggsy breathes again and leans down to gently peck Merlin on the lips until the kiss deepens and Eggsy feels like he can’t breathe like he’s high like he’s living and dying all at the same time and fuck he wants to do it again, he never wants to stop kissing Merlin, he wants to be with Merlin all the time he wants to be _with_ him and date him and fuck him and then have Merlin fuck him and take him to church and take him home to meet his mum and Daisy but maybe scratch that last one, Merlin might think little kids are demons, they haven’t properly discussed it, and _fuck_ he pulls away, breathing heavily as he realizes he just had an entire existential crisis in the span of an entire kiss.

Merlin looks up at him, a dazed smile on his face. “Eggsy, love–” ( _there it is again,_ Eggsy thinks) “–you haven’t got a thing to be worrying about. Unless you’re just drunk and you regret this in the morning in which case, I completely understand and will cherish this for the wonderful night it was and the wonderful person you are.”

Eggsy interrupts him by kissing him harder. “Merlin,” he kisses him on the nose. “You absolute fucking tosser.”

Eggsy, then, shifts down to his cheeks, “I have the biggest fucking crush on you” ... to his forehead, “I will never regret this” ...to his jaw, “I will never regret you."

And finally, to his lips. “I’d like to take you out, a proper date, at a proper pub or where you prefer, if you will allow me the honor.”

Merlin nods, his eyes glistening as he attempts to blink the tears away and Eggsy swipes under his eyes with his thumbs. Merlin greets his fingers with a kiss and says, “I’d really love that.”

They arrive to the conference room the next day, clear eyed and not hungover, and Roxy raises an eyebrow when she sees Eggsy wearing something… different?

She nudges his shoulder. “When’d you get that sweater?”

**Author's Note:**

> thank u for reading this i love u  
> pls come talk to me abt kingsman on twitter @ docmccoys !!!
> 
> (also shoutout to the "ride a cowboy" gc, foxy roxy is for u)  
> ((double s/o to my gay spouse vince for helping polish that softass scene at the end and richie for being the greatest ever i love u losers))


End file.
